JP5332129B2 - Frame structure at the front of the vehicle - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a structure of a front side member provided on the left and right sides of a front portion of a vehicle.

  As the frame structure of the front part of the car body, in addition to the left and right upper frames located at the same height as the tops of the left and right front wheels, the left and right chassis members located at the same height as the floor part, the center axis of the front wheels Is known in which left and right front side members extending in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body are arranged at substantially the same height (see, for example, Patent Document 1). The engine and the transmission are arranged inside the left and right front side members in the vehicle width direction.

  In such a frame structure, the front wheel may interfere with the front side member at the time of maximum steering, so that the front wheel can enter the vehicle width direction inner side than the front member portion in consideration of the improvement of the collision energy absorption performance and the steering angle. There has been provided a technique for forming a space so that a front member portion does not pass between a central region and an engine and a transmission (see, for example, Patent Document 2). The vehicle body frame structure is located above the center axis of the front wheel, and extends from the front pillar to the front of the vehicle. The lower member part is positioned below the center axis of the front wheel and extends from the front end of the floor to the front of the vehicle. And an upper member portion coupled in front of the front wheel, a coupling portion coupling the lower member portion, and a front member portion extending forward of the vehicle from the coupling portion. In such a vehicle body frame structure, the force input from the front of the vehicle body in the event of a collision or the like is distributed from the left and right front member portions to the upper member portion and the lower member portion.

Further, in order to reduce the weight of the vehicle, it can be considered that the frame structure of the vehicle is formed of a constituent member made of an aluminum alloy or the like. If the upper member part or the front pillar is to be formed by, for example, aluminum alloy die casting, the die cutting direction can be set along the inside / outside direction of the vehicle due to the overall shape of these members, the arrangement relationship of the reinforcing ribs, etc. Conceivable.
Japanese Patent No. 2890938 JP 2006-143178 A

  However, the upper member portion is provided with a strut house portion to which the strut is assembled. This strut house part is surrounded by a wall body and is formed into a cylindrical shape with a top plate with a top plate to which the strut is attached to the top part to ensure rigidity. The wall body is provided with two surfaces in the die-cutting direction, and the upper member portion cannot be molded by one die-cutting. Therefore, after molding the upper member part with one side of the wall body overlapping in the die-cutting direction being removed, and molding the upper member part, a separately formed wall body is attached to the part other than the wall body by welding or the like. Is required. Therefore, when the upper member portion is molded, the number of parts is large and laborious.

  An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to provide a vehicle front frame structure that has a small number of parts and a simplified manufacturing process.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention has a front frame structure of a vehicle configured as follows.

1. A front pillar that is provided in front of the vehicle interior space and is provided in a pair on the left and right in the vehicle width direction, with an upper portion connected to the lower end of the front pillar upper and a lower portion connected to the front end of the side sill;
In the frame structure of the vehicle front portion , which is attached to the vehicle front side of the front pillar, and the front end includes a front side member upper connected to the front side member lower,
The front Pila and the front side member upper is a die cast member has inner and outer direction and demolding direction of the vehicle, and the front side member up path is provided with a strut house part, the strut house part, the Three of the four surfaces constituting the periphery of the strut house portion are wall bodies, and the other one of the four surfaces is opposed to each other in the die cutting direction. either side of the two faces to the notch portion to allow demolding of the struts house part, the Furontopi la, when the front side member upper is assembled to the front Pila, the notch portion comprising a cover plate for closing the at least by bonding the cover plate to the notch portion, the wall of the 4-way by the wall member and the cover plate of the 3-way closed Strut house part to the formation of, and constitutes a frame structure of the vehicle front by connecting the said front Pila said front side member upper.

  2 and 1, the front side member upper has a structure in which a front end is connected to the front side member lower beyond an upper part of a front wheel of the vehicle.

In the vehicle front portion of the frame structure according to 3, 1 or 2, wherein the notch portion is set to be facing the outside of the vehicle.
In the vehicle front portion of the frame structure according to 4,3, the cutout portion, was a continuous Tei Rukoto the inner surface of the mold is formed with a pull direction to draft the struts house part.

The vehicle front frame structure according to the present invention has the following effects.
The front side member upper can be integrally formed by die casting, with one of the wall bodies overlapping in the mold release direction being removed. Also, the front pillar having the cover plate can be integrally formed by die casting.

  Furthermore, since the periphery of the cover plate is welded to the notch when the front side member upper and the front pillar are assembled by welding or the like, a strut house portion having a closed cross-sectional structure is formed on the front side member upper by the wall body and the cover plate Is done. Therefore, it is not necessary to separately manufacture the wall body of the strut house part and to separately assemble the wall body by joining to the front side member upper, and the frame structure of the front part of the vehicle including the strut house part of the closed cross-section structure. The manufacturing process can be simplified and inexpensive.

  A first embodiment of a vehicle front frame structure according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a substantially entire frame structure of an automobile (vehicle) including a front side member upper 10 and a front pillar 12. Hereinafter, the forward direction of the car is defined as the front (front side), and the rear (rear side) and left and right width directions are defined based on this direction. The direction toward the center of the width direction of the car is defined as the inner direction (inside), A direction extending in the width direction is defined as an outward direction (outside). Also, the direction in which gravity acts is the downward direction (lower side), and the direction against gravity is the upward direction (upper side). In the figure, arrows X, Y, and Z indicate three orthogonal directions, arrow X indicates the front of the vehicle, arrow Y indicates the vehicle width direction left side, and arrow Z indicates the vehicle upward direction. Note that description of the same configuration on the left and right may be omitted as appropriate.

  The front side member upper 10 and the front pillar 12 are respectively arranged on the left and right sides in the width direction of the vehicle in front of the vehicle interior space. FIG. 2 shows a front left frame 11 including a front side member upper 10 and a front pillar 12 provided on one side of the vehicle front frame structure, that is, on the left side of the vehicle front. Note that the front right frame has substantially the same structure as the front left frame, which is reversed left and right, and the description thereof is omitted.

  The front left frame 11 has an upper end connected to the (left) front pillar upper 14, a lower end connected to the (left) side sill 16, a front end extending forward, and coupled to the front side member lower 20.

  FIG. 3 shows an exploded view of the front left frame 11, and the front pillar 12 is shown on the right side in the drawing. The front pillar 12 is a member mainly extending in the vertical direction, and has a connection portion 15 at the upper end and a connection portion 17 at the lower portion. As described above, the lower end of the front pillar upper 14 is integrally connected to the connecting portion 15, and the front end of the side sill 16 is integrally connected to the connecting portion 17 by welding or the like. A connecting portion 18 is formed in front of the upper portion of the front pillar 12. The connecting portion 18 is a flat end surface, and a cover plate 22 extending forward is provided on the left side of the connecting portion 18, that is, on the vehicle outer side. The cover plate 22 is a plate-like member, and is formed so as to correspond to a notch portion 24 of the front side member upper 10 described later when the front side member upper 10 is assembled to the front pillar 12.

  Further, the front pillar 12 is a structural member made of a light alloy casting such as an aluminum die-cast material in which the inside / outside direction of the vehicle, that is, the direction indicated by A in the drawing is a die-casting direction, and includes the cover plate 22. It is molded into.

  The front side member upper 10 is shown on the left side of FIG. The front side member upper 10 has a base end portion 26 on the right side of the drawing, that is, on the rear side of the vehicle, and extends from the base end portion 26 toward the front of the vehicle. The base end portion 26 corresponds to the connecting portion 18 of the front pillar 12 and is formed to be fixed to the connecting portion 18 by welding or the like.

  As the front side member upper 10 extends forward from the base end portion 26, the front side member upper 10 bends inward and downward of the vehicle so that the front end is connected to the front side member lower 20. (See FIG. 1). The front side member lower 20 is below the front side member upper 10 and is connected to the front ends of the left and right side sills 16 and extends forward at substantially the same height as the side sill 16. It is a member.

  Specifically, when the front side member upper 10 is assembled to the connecting portion 18, the front side member upper 10 enters the inside of the wheel W beyond the upper side of the wheel W, and is connected to the front side member lower 20 at the lower front part of the vehicle body. Is done. Further, a front bumper beam 30 is provided at the front end where the front side member upper 10 and the front side member lower 20 are connected.

  A strut house portion 28 is provided in the vicinity of the base end portion 26. The strut house portion 28 includes a wall body 32 provided in three directions and a top plate 34, and one surface (the outer surface of the vehicle) is the cutout portion 24 described above. As shown in FIG. 4, the wall body 32 is provided on each of the front, rear, and inner surfaces of the vehicle, surrounds the three sides of the strut house portion 28, and the top plate 34 has three locations on the wall body 32. Connected to the top edge. FIG. 4 is a view showing the front left frame 11 from the inside of the vehicle.

  Similar to the front pillar 12, the front side member upper 10 is a structural member made of a light alloy casting such as an aluminum die-cast material with the direction of the inside and outside of the vehicle, that is, the direction of the arrow A as the die cutting direction. Is continuously formed on the inner surface of the strut house portion 28 formed with a slight draft in the die-cutting direction. That is, the mold surface (convex shape) that forms the inner surface of the strut house portion 28 enters the mold surface (concave shape) that forms the outer surface of the strut house portion 28 during mold clamping through the cutout portion 24. Also, it is extracted when the mold is opened. A mounting hole 36 is formed in the top plate 34. The attachment hole 36 corresponds to a shock absorber attachment portion (not shown) of the front wheel W, and the shock absorber is fixed to the inside of the strut house portion 28 via the attachment hole 36.

Next, a method for forming the front left frame 11 will be described.
As described above, the front side member upper 10 and the front pillar 12 are formed by die casting as shown in FIG. As described above, the die casting is performed with the inside and outside directions of the vehicle as the die-cutting direction.

  And the base end part 26 of the front side member upper 10 is assembled | attached to the connection part 18 of the front pillar 12, and the peripheral part of the connection part 18 and the base end part 26 is welded, and the butted part of the cover board 22 and the notch part 24 is welded. To do. As a result, the front left frame 11 is integrally formed, and the cover plate 22 and the cutout portion 24 are welded so that the strut house portion 28 is surrounded by the three wall bodies 32 and the cover plate 22 in four directions. It is formed in a closed cross section. The front right frame can be formed in the same manner.

  Therefore, the frame structure of the front portion of the vehicle having the strut house portion 28 having a closed cross section is connected to these members by die casting in a simple process and without using parts other than the front side member upper 10 and the front pillar 12. Thus, the rigidity can be ensured and the structure can be made inexpensively.

  Further, by aligning the cover plate 22 with the cutout portion 24, alignment at the connecting portion 18 and the base end portion 26 is facilitated, and the front side member upper 10 and the front pillar 12 can be welded and fixed accurately and easily.

  The cover plate 22 and the cutout portion 24 are fixed by welding, but the other portions may be fixed by screws. The material of the frame structure of the present invention is not limited to aluminum or aluminum alloy. Further, the cutout portion may be formed not on the vehicle outer side but on another surface such as the vehicle inner surface.

The perspective view which shows the flame | frame of the vehicle provided with one Embodiment of the frame structure of the vehicle front part concerning this invention. The perspective view which shows a front left frame. The disassembled perspective view which shows a front left frame. The perspective view which shows a front left frame.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Front side member upper 11 ... Front left frame 12 ... Front pillar 15, 17, 18 ... Connection part 22 ... Cover board 24 ... Notch part 28 ... Strathouse part 32 ... Wall body

Claims (4)

A front pillar that is provided in front of the interior space of the vehicle and is provided in a pair on the left and right in the vehicle width direction, with the upper part connected to the lower end of the front pillar upper and the lower part connected to the front end of the side sill
In the frame structure of the vehicle front portion , which is attached to the vehicle front side of the front pillar, and the front end includes a front side member upper connected to the front side member lower,
The front pillar and the front side member upper are die-cast members whose inside / outside direction of the vehicle is a die cutting direction,
And said front side member up path is provided with a strut house part,
The strut house part is a wall of three faces of four faces constituting the periphery of the strut house part , and is the other one face of the four faces, either side of the two surfaces facing each other in the die cutting direction is a cutout portion to enable demolding of the struts house part,
The Furontopi la, when the front side member upper is assembled to the front Pila, comprising a cover plate for closing the notch portion,
At least the cover plate is joined to the notch, and a strut house portion having a closed cross section is formed by the three walls and the four walls formed by the cover plate, and the front pillar and the front side member are formed. A frame structure of a front portion of a vehicle, characterized in that an upper is connected.   The frame structure of a vehicle front portion according to claim 1, wherein the front side member upper has a structure in which a front end is connected to the front side member lower beyond the front wheel of the vehicle. The frame structure of the front part of the vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the cut-out portion faces the outside of the vehicle. The notch portion of the vehicle front portion of the frame structure according to claim 3, wherein a continuous Tei Rukoto the inner surface of the formed with a draft angle to the mold opening direction the struts house part.

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